February 6, 2011
In Luke chapter four, Jesus said that man should not live by bread alone (human food) but by everyone word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (spiritual food). Every believer in Christ is to be spiritually nourished from God’s word. This spiritual food will increase our capacity for faith in the unseen wisdom of God. I want to teach you a truth that will become spiritual “comfort food.” Spiritual truth must be seen with the eyes of our minds, not our physical eyes.
“The wages of sin is death,” are ominous words that are often used by the Holy Spirit to draw an unbeliever to saving faith in Jesus Christ. These words from the eternal holy God apply to every member of the human race. The fact that the wages of sin is death has never changed or been altered in any way. Everyone who sins, every one – those who do not believe in Christ and those who believe in Christ – must die. That is what God says, and that is what He means.
If you are a theological thinker, perhaps you are taken aback by that last statement. Even Christians must die? But, hold it! It is extremely important where and how a sinner dies. Those who do not know Jesus Christ personally will die outside of Jesus Christ and will be separated from the presence of God and slam headlong into a liquid lake of fire that burns forever and ever (Matthew 10:28; Revelation 20:11-15). This is what the Bible calls “the second death” (Revelation 20:15).
But what about those of us who have trusted in Christ? How do we die? The apostle Paul repeatedly used the phrase “in Christ” to describe Christians. What did He mean? Take this glimpse into God’s unseen world. At the moment of our personal faith in Christ, we become forever connected to Him. Paul wrote that by means of one Spirit (God’s Holy Spirit) we (those who trust in Christ) have all (each one) been baptized (not with water, but spiritually) into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Every believer is baptized into a permanent union with Christ.
When did this amazing transformation take place? From our human view, it happened at the moment we believed in Christ. God, however, who lives in the eternal present, has always seen those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as being “in Christ.” There has never has been a time when we were not in His Son. In fact, God tells us that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:3-4). This spiritual grace was given to us in Christ even before time began (2 Timothy1:9).
Crucified With Christ
Since this is true, we were in Christ at the time of his death on the cross of Calvary. Paul wrote to the church at Galatia:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).
The words “I have been crucified with Christ” indicates a past action. What exactly does Paul mean? Those who stood under Calvary’s cross at the crucifixion were watching a human being hanging there with nails driven into His hands and feet and writhing in agony. But God, living in the eternal present, saw all believers from all the ages at that moment as being “in Christ.” What an incredible thought!
What does this truth mean to us? Every believer of every generation has paid God’s wages for sin. We died in Him. The wages of sin is death, but we (Christians) pay that debt to God because we are in union with the One who bore our sin debt. How amazing is that? Our slavery to the authority of our old Adamic sin nature died when we died in Christ. The power of sin has no more real authority over us.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:1-7)
Unbelievers have no choice but to submit to the power of the Adamic death nature within them. That does not mean that every unbeliever is as bad as they possibly can be, but they are constantly controlled by the power of sin. Even when they do apparently good moral things, they are motivated by selfish and devious thoughts that can never please God. On the other hand, Christians are capable of works that actually please God because His Holy Spirit performs the deeds through the regenerate believer. We can truly walk in newness of life.
Resurrected with Christ
This miraculous spiritual truth of being placed into union with Christ doesn’t stop with dying in Christ. When we were immersed into Christ, not only were we united with His death, but we also were joined with His resurrection.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-6)
Again, God, operating in the eternal present, sees us at this very instant already resurrected “in Christ.” Paul said that God has raised us up (already) together with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). Note again the past tense!
Seated with Christ
Not only have we been crucified with Christ and resurrected with Him, but we are also already seated with Christ in heaven. Upon arriving into heaven when Christ ascended from the Mount of Olives, He took His place seated at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 8:1). Since we are “in Christ,” and have forever been “in Him,” we are already seated with Him in heaven (Ephesians 2:6). This is amazing spiritual truth but is has the potential to motivate us to live based upon what has happened to us and where we are.
God does not give us these glimpses into His eternal world just to impress us, but to inspire us to live for Him. We should begin to live our lives based upon our forever position in Christ. The more we learn about our true identity, the more we are encouraged to live like who we are.
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1)
Which is more important, what we know or how we live? The fact is they’re both equally important. One cannot obey what has not been learned. This spiritual knowledge should affect first our thinking concerning our true identity and then it should affect our service to God in this life. We should be encouraged and motivated to live out in time our new resurrected life. We should walk in newness of life.